Dawn in the Darkness

As the leader of Human Civilization, Yue Yuan's specialized physical examination was completed very quickly, and the report was ready that same day.

Taking the examination report Long Xiaolin handed him, Yue Yuan gave it a careful glance before handing it back. "Take it to the Life Genetics Research Institute. Tell them I've reviewed it."

"Understood." Long Xiaolin accepted it with both hands, turned, and left Yue Yuan's office.

Watching her graceful figure disappear through the doorway, Yue Yuan fell into thought. He was not thinking about Long Xiaolin's figure, but about the specialized examination report.

Just as Yi Kai had said, Yue Yuan had now lost his ability to reproduce. If Yi Kai's prediction was correct, his recovery period would be around four hundred eighty to five hundred years.

According to the report, all his functions were normal, but the analysis concluded that for some unknown reason, his sperm had lost the ability to carry chromosomes. This had occurred during the proliferation stage of reproductive cells, triggered by the dominant expression of a certain useless DNA fragment in the human body.

The research personnel did not know the mechanism that had caused the useless DNA fragment to express itself. They only knew the cause had to be that Red Gas, because Yue Yuan and Lu Xiaofen were the only two people in all Humanity with this condition.

"Well, I'll just treat it as four hundred years of natural birth control." Yue Yuan shook his head, made a self-deprecating remark, and put the matter out of his mind.

Then he began another busy day of work.

It was not just Yue Yuan. Everyone was busy with the work assigned to their respective positions. Engineers were building spacecraft, scientists were occupied with their research, and machinery operators were likewise completing task after task within their duties.

The surface base on Callisto was brightly lit, while the Orbital Mass Accelerator continuously delivered all kinds of supplies to synchronous orbit day and night. Everything was progressing in an orderly fashion.

The repetitive days continued for over a month. As usual, Yue Yuan arrived at his office today. He had assumed he would simply handle some routine matters as he had on previous days, but shortly after arriving, urgent knocking sounded outside his door, followed by an excited voice in his ear.

"Chief Yue, good news! Fantastic news!"

Before Yue Yuan could say "Come in," the owner of the voice pushed open the door. He then rushed to Yue Yuan in a few quick strides and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Haha, Chief, good news! Fantastic news!"

Yue Yuan raised his eyes and saw a man with neat, short hair. His hair was thick, black, and glossy, while the stubble on his face had been shaved clean. He looked full of energy, not at all like a man in his fifties.

In truth, Yue Yuan did not even need to look. He knew who it was from the voice alone.

"Dr. Liu, what's with all the fuss so early in the morning? If you had good news, a phone call would have done. Why make the trip here yourself?"

The visitor was Liu Miyan, a leading figure in the field of Particle Physics.

Unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes, he said loudly, "How could I do that? News this big had to be delivered to you in person, Chief."

"Look how excited you are. What is it? Tell me." Yue Yuan spoke calmly.

Having been troubled by the energy crisis for so long, Yue Yuan was actually somewhat expectant. He was not nearly as calm as he appeared, but as a leader, he generally did not show his anxiety.

"The engine! The engine from that alien spacecraft works! The one Professor Yu Nanfeng said had been smashed with a hammer last time! Hahaha, we struck gold!" Excitement flashed in Liu Miyan's eyes as he nearly began dancing with joy, looking nothing like a physicist.

"What?! The engine works?!"

Yue Yuan cried out and sprang to his feet. Callisto's low gravity, combined with the force he had used, nearly sent his head into the ceiling.

After steadying himself, Yue Yuan stared at Liu Miyan and confirmed again, "That engine works?"

"Yes, it works."

What damn good news.

He had never imagined that such a wrecked spacecraft would still have one working engine. There really was a way out when all seemed hopeless!

"Let's go take a look." Yue Yuan immediately walked out of his office. Before leaving, he also instructed Long Xiaolin, "Xiaolin, notify Zhu Pete. Have him bring a few people over as well."

Zhu Pete was now the head of the Security Department. Yue Yuan called him over mainly to strengthen the security detail.

The Security Department handled internal matters. After its authority had been redefined, it was mainly responsible for internal security and for protecting scientists and members of the leadership.

Wherever Yue Yuan went, at least two Security Department soldiers always accompanied him.

"Dr. Liu, talk as we walk. Tell me exactly what happened. I remember that engine had been severely deformed." As they headed toward the wrecked spacecraft, Yue Yuan spoke to Liu Miyan beside him.

"It was deformed, but we hammered it back into shape with engineering hammers. It wasn't just the tail nozzle that was deformed—many internal components were damaged beyond use as well. But didn't we dismantle the other one? The damaged parts could be replaced with parts from the dismantled one. They fit perfectly."

The gloom that had weighed on him for months was swept away by this news.

Although the engine had been repaired by using parts from one to patch up the other, it was not wrong to call it functional. In any case, Yue Yuan was no longer focused on the swapping and patching. Knowing that one worked was enough.

The two quickly passed through the lowest level of the original base and entered the spacecraft.

Since Humanity had excavated upward from underground to the surface, the area had now been widened considerably. The vicinity of the spacecraft entrance had also been dug into a large underground chamber.

Therefore, the place Yue Yuan was heading to was not the spacecraft's former engine room, but the spacious underground chamber that had been newly excavated.

Passing through a reinforced concrete corridor and beyond a heavy smashed door, Yue Yuan and Liu Miyan finally arrived at where the engine had been placed.

The first things they saw were two towering gantry crane systems. Lowering their gazes from the cranes, they saw the engine lying quietly on a raised platform.

The engine was supported by Mechanical Arms extending from the platform, and thick steel cables were fastened to it. The upper ends of those cables were linked to the gantry cranes.

This thing was enormous.

As the two approached the engine, Yu Nanfeng came forward to greet them. "Chief Yue, Dr. Liu, you're here!"

Yue Yuan nodded, then said directly, "Tell me about the situation."

"We basically understand the structure of this engine now." Yu Nanfeng did not waste words, directly pointing at the massive engine before them. "This is the combustion chamber, this is the fuel storage chamber, this is the pressurization unit, the nozzle, and the turbofan. As for this, it should be some kind of Force Field Manipulation device."

"A Force Field Manipulation device?" Yue Yuan caught the key point and asked.

Although Yue Yuan was not an expert, he understood many things. It was not that he had never heard of Force Field Manipulation devices, but one had never appeared on an engine before.

Humanity's Fission Engines had Magnetic Confinement field components, but calling them Force Field Manipulation would be going too far. Besides, if it were a magnetic field confinement device, Yue Yuan believed Yu Nanfeng would not have used the separate term Force Field Manipulation device to describe it.